Maslow after Death
Write the first paragraph of your page here. Section heading Abraham Maslow died suddenly of a heart attack while jogging near his home in California on 8th June, 1970. Many articles written by Maslow in final years of his life which been unpublished, his daughter Ann Kaplan made this papers available to Maslow’s biographer Edward Hoffman. The unpublished papers provided insight into the path that Maslow was taking Humanism. In 1996 ‘ The unpublished papers of Abraham Maslow’ edited by Edward Hoffman were published. Hoffman (1996) included in this edited book articles by Maslow’s that were most contemporarily pertinent. These papers showed how Maslow continued to be to develop Humanism as an interdisciplinary school; this is particularly prevalent in the papers he wrote during 1968/ 1969 regarding biological influences on man. Maslow explored the possibility that within human race the existence of the Biological Elite who maybe predisposed to attain self-actuation. He was so concerned that his preliminary findings and theories on the subject be misused that he did not publish them. He felt the Biological elite would probably become prejudiced against and indicated that a way to avoid this would be if the Biological Elite became a priestly class. This priestly class would receive less material rewards than the general population. He felt this was a reasonable aspiration as self-actuators tend to place the highest value on metagratifications. He predicted that humans were approaching a dilemma in the decision of how man should evolve. He assumed some would turn to religion as in the past to find guidance, yet science indicates that man’s questions are best answered by man. Maslow indicates the selection of those to make these evolutionary decisions is urgent. He implies that a commission of self-actuators be chosen to guide mankind to the ideal human “and how to biologically select the good and the wise” (Maslow, 1968, p72). Critics could view this paper as Maslow desiring to obtain the obtainable. In another paper, dated July, 1969 “The Biological Injustice and Free Will” (Hoffman, 1996, P 64) he wrote about how human biological makeup influences development. In this essay Maslow acknowledges that what we are born with; whether it be physically strong/weak, cognitively strong/weak or high intelligence/low intelligence, will have an effect on our free will. He felt that biological injustice of birth was more difficult for individuals to psychologically cope with than social injustice of birth. As with the latter the individual had something to blame the injustice they suffered. He believed that no matter what an individual inherited genetically they still had the free will to optimise their development. Whether an individual was born physically and/or cognitively gifted or with disabilities was a matter of luck, of which the individual had no control. However he considered it was the responsibility of the individual to make the most of that which he/she was biologically born and within conditions he/she had to live. Maslow cites Bruno Bettelheim and Victor Frankl experiences in Nazi Concentration Camps as an affirmation of how people demonstrate their freewill even in horrendous circumstances. He believed it was paramount that the individual completely and openly accept oneself to develop. When self-acceptance occurs the way is paved for development and self-actualisation through choice and free will. According to Maslow although the individual has responsibility to others, for example ones off-spring, the primary responsibility is to oneself. Maslow accepts that biological and the conditions within which one lives limit freewill he surmises it is still possible to become the best one can be, by the choices one makes. Maslow provides examples of how people chose to be active or inactive in life even when facing death in Slozhenitsyns (1969) book Cancer Ward. He promotes that anyone can become self-actualizing within one’s own life no matter how ordinary or extraordinary. He emphasised that one should strive for self-excellence and avoid competing to be better than others. Self-esteem is an important factor in determining how an individual will utilize their choices and free will. Maslow reflects that much of what he purports in this paper is in line with the Stoic Philosophers views and Victor Frankl’s existential approach to personality. He proposes that reviewing the Stoic Philosophers writings may provide an important connection.